Coulthard Sets New Record at Valencia - Final Day

McLaren's David Coulthard set a new record at the Valencia circuit on the final day of testing before the first race of the year in Australia next week.

The Scot, who had been working at the Spanish track since Wednesday, lowered teammate's Kimi Raikkonen previous record of 1:10.937 - set the by the young Finn earlier this month - by a massive half a second. Coulthard's best time today with his Mercedes-powered MP4-17 was 1:10.438.

Coulthard finished the day more than one second ahead of McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz and the only Williams on track today, driven by Spaniard Marc Gene. Despite being off their rivals' pace during the three days at Valencia, Williams were pleased with their progress during the pre-season.

"We have come to the end of an extensive test session covering the last 7 weeks and using 3 circuits (Barcelona, Valencia and Estoril)," said Sam Michael, Williams chief operations engineer. "A lot of groundwork has been covered in terms of mileage covered and performance evaluations undertaken.

"We have made good progress on improving our reliability and have a clear picture of what problems we need to work on in the short term. Aerodynamically and mechanically, we have improved the FW24, particularly over the last two tests, and now we have to wait until Melbourne to see precisely where we are.

"All of the test team have worked long hours to ensure that we reach our targets and the contribution they have made to our program is greatly appreciated."

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:10.438 58 2. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:11.615 67 3. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:12.190 48 All Timing Unofficial

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